JP2006352738A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device which realizes construction of an image data base in which image data can be stored for a long period and which realizes effective use of the image data and saving of a storage means. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming device F having a timing means 12 and storing the image data in the storage means 4 with the date of storing is provided with an automatic image reduction means 1 which reduces the image data whose storing period overs a fixed period and stores it again. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement of an image forming apparatus including a storage unit that stores image data.

  Some conventional facsimile machines and multifunction peripherals store a transmitted / received image or a copied image in a storage means.

  In this type of device, the stored image data can be reused, making use of the features of large-capacity storage, creating a database of stored image data together with other management attribute information, and effectively using it as management information Some have done. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a technique that makes image data easy to search for image information by creating a database.

However, since there is a limit on the capacity regardless of the amount of storage installed, it must be deleted after a certain period of time, and if the storage period is short, data can be used effectively The possibility is low, and it becomes useless to allocate a large amount of memory for storing processed image data.
JP 2001-030550 A

  The present invention has been proposed in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to construct an image database capable of storing image data for a long period of time, and to achieve effective use of image data and saving of storage means. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can perform the above-described process.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to claim 1 is an image forming apparatus having a timing unit and capable of storing image data in a storage unit together with a storage date and time, wherein the storage period is An automatic image reduction unit is provided that reduces and re-saves image data after a predetermined time has elapsed.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the automatic image reduction means reduces and re-saves the image data stepwise over time.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the automatic image reduction means deletes the reduced image data whose retention period has passed a predetermined time limit.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the image database further includes an image database, and the image database includes the reduced image data.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the first to fourth aspects, since the image data whose storage period has passed a predetermined period is reduced and stored again, the storage amount is smaller than storing the image data at the same magnification. Thus, the storage means can be saved, and the creation of an image database with reduced images can be realized.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the image is reduced in stages, it is possible to store an image having a long storage period with a smaller capacity.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the erasure period is set, it is possible to uniformly erase image data that has been stored for a long period of time and is not likely to be reused and does not require management.

  According to the fourth aspect, since the image database includes the reduced image data, if other management information is stored in association with the reduced image data, the database can be used to search and display thumbnails. , Classification, and other various management can be realized.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following, a multifunction machine capable of facsimile transmission / reception, copying, and printer functions will be exemplified as the image forming apparatus, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a facsimile machine or a copy machine may be used.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus F includes an MPU 1, an NCU 2, a modem 3, a storage unit 4, a ROM 5 in which various programs and constant data are stored, a CODEC 6, a reading unit 7, a display unit 8 including an LCD, an operation panel, and the like. The operation unit 9, the printing unit 10, the LAN interface 11, and the time measuring unit 12 are provided.

  The MPU 1 constitutes a signal processing unit together with a predetermined program, and controls each unit according to each program. In particular, as will be described later, automatic image reduction means is configured together with the program.

  The NCU 2 performs network control for outgoing and incoming calls to the public line N, and the modem 3 modulates and demodulates transmission / reception data. Thus, facsimile transmission / reception is executed.

  The storage unit 4 includes a RAM, a large-capacity storage, and the like, and includes various setting data (not shown), variable data (not shown), image data reserved for memory transmission (not shown), and transmitted / received image data. The image database 4a stores processed image data such as copied image data. In this image database 4a, data records are stored together with the processing date and time of image data that has undergone facsimile transmission / reception, copying, and printer processing.

  The CODEC 6 encodes the read image data by a method such as MH, MR, or MMR to transmit it, and decodes the received image data to print out.

  The reading unit 8 has a function of reading a document image and outputs binarized image data. The LAN interface 11 is an interface for connecting to the LAN (L) so as to be communicable.

  The time measuring means 12 is used to measure the date and time stored in the image database 4a and the storage time of image data to be described later.

  The image forming apparatus F sequentially encodes the image data read by the reading unit 7 and then temporarily stores the image data in the storage unit 4 to a facsimile apparatus (not shown) of the other party via the modem 3 and the NCU 2. On the other hand, when the image data is received, the received image data is stored in the storage means 4, sequentially read and decoded, and the facsimile transmission / reception basic function for printing out by the printing unit 10, and the image data read by the reading unit 7 Are provided on the recording paper, and a printer function is provided to print out the image data sent via the LAN interface 11 on the recording paper.

Further, as described above, the image forming apparatus F, after processing such as transmission / reception and copying, stores the image data processed by these functions and other management attribute information as image data records in the image database 4a. Save initial generation. Note that, for example, time-scheduled transmission or the like that is once stored in the storage unit 4 and then transmitted by facsimile after the elapse of time, is stored in the image database 4a when the transmission is completed.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an image data record generation operation for the image database 4a.

  This data generation process is started after facsimile transmission / reception, copying, and printer execution. In addition to image data, management of storage date / time, reduction stage classification, function type, various function setting information, user classification, document size and the like is performed. The attribute information is stored in the database 4a as a new image data record (step 101). Note that the image data may be initially saved after being subjected to the first reduction process.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the automatic image reduction operation for the image data stored in the image database 4a.

  This automatic image reduction process is a batch process such as a daily batch process or a weekly batch process, and is executed for all data records included in the image database 4a.

  In this example, the data of period A for performing the first stage reduction, period B for performing the second stage reduction, and period C for erasing the image information from the image database 4a are A <B <C. Therefore, the image data is reduced or erased based on the setting data. In the first and second stages of reduction, the respective reduction sizes or reduction ratios previously set in the storage unit 4 are used, and these can be changed by the user.

  While reading the data including the image data and the storage date / time from the image database 4a (steps 201 and 202), when the elapsed period from the storage date / time of the data is in the relationship of period A ≦ elapsed period <period B, the first On the condition that the reduction of the stage has not been completed, the extracted image data is once decoded, reduced to a predetermined reduction size, encoded, and then stored again in the database 4a together with the reduction stage section (step 203-209). If the relationship of period B ≦ elapsed period <period C is satisfied, a process of reducing to a predetermined reduction size is executed on the condition that the second stage reduction has not been completed (steps 210 to 215). When the elapsed period becomes period C, the image data is deleted (step 216).

  As a reduction method, there are various methods such as simple thinning and pixel averaging. The deletion may be performed by deleting the record itself from the image database 4a or deleting only the image data while leaving the management attribute information.

  As described above, the image database 4a is automatically generated and increased together with the image data every time functions such as transmission / reception and copying are executed. However, as described above, the image data is reduced and re-saved by batch processing such as daily. Therefore, the data size of the image data becomes smaller than the initial state, the database 4a does not become too large, and the image information can be stored for a long period. Therefore, such an image database 4a is used as various management information. can do.

  For example, a monthly usage list classified by user classification and function type may be output. In that case, a reduced image may be printed for easier understanding.

  Alternatively, the image database 4a may be searched using a key input and designated from the operation unit 9, and the reduced image information extracted by the search may be displayed as a thumbnail on the display unit 8.

  When printing out an image from the image database 4a, the image data may be enlarged.

  In addition, although automatic reduction is shown as being performed by batch processing, a desired image may be designated from the image database 4a by the operation unit 9 and the display unit 8 to reduce the image.

  In the present embodiment, the image database 4a is shown, but automatic image reduction may be executed simply to save the image memory. In that case, in order to prevent the image data (memory reserved transmission data) before transmission from being erased, such data may be excluded and reduced.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the image data record production | generation operation | movement to an image database. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the automatic image reduction operation | movement with respect to image data.

Explanation of symbols

F Image forming apparatus 1 MPU (automatic image reduction means)
4 storage means 4a image database 6 CODEC
12 Timekeeping means

Claims (4)

An image forming apparatus having a timing unit and capable of storing image data in a storage unit together with a storage date and time,
An image forming apparatus comprising an automatic image reduction means for reducing and re-saving image data whose storage period has passed a predetermined time. In claim 1,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the automatic image reducing means reduces and re-saves the image data stepwise over time. In claim 1 or 2,
The automatic image reducing means deletes reduced image data whose retention period has passed a predetermined time limit. In any one of Claims 1-3,
An image forming apparatus, further comprising an image database, wherein the image database includes the reduced image data.

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